Video: 'Pigzilla' Raiding Trash Near School in Hong Kong Reveals How Huge Boars Actually Are

Viral video of an enormous boar standing on her hind legs and reaching into a dumpster has the internet in shock. But as surprising as the video is, what is perhaps even more surprising is that this animal is not actually an anomaly. That’s just how big boars are.

According to News.com.au, the person who shot the video was walking his children to school in Hong Kong when he saw the animal. The videographer, Tu Dong, posted the video on Facebook and it went viral.

Three of the boars shown in the video look as big as dogs, but one adult, standing on its hind legs and nosing into the dumpster, appeared to be as big as a pony.

A regular-sized boar and her piglets raid a dumpster in Hong Kong. Tu Dongdong/Facebook

Feral pigs and boars can appear terrifying, with their enormous, hairy bodies and sharp, curled tusks. Their appearance is not misleading: wild boars are known to be aggressive and intelligent. Earlier this year, a wild boar attacked a family and killed an older man in China.

Suids, or members of the pig family, are notoriously bigger than you would expect. While the cover of Charlotte's Web might lead you to believe that a young girl could carry a pig in her arms, that would only be true if the pig in question was a baby. Large White pigs, a common meat pig breed, on average weigh 573-838 pounds at adulthood, according to Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with males weighing more than females.

The size of a game animal can be difficult to interpret from photos alone. Hunters traditionally put their prize closer to the camera and sit further back, using forced perspective to make it appear larger, so looking at pictures of giant boars online turns up more camera trickery than it does actual size references. However, this image of a tiger killing a boar illustrates their impressive size.

Luckily, wild animals like boars prefer natural food sources to urban ones, as confirmed in this study in PLOS One. But sometimes, increasing encroachment and fewer available resources in their native habitat can lead to animals wandering into cities in search of space and food. Trash cans and dumpsters offer an easy food source.

An open dumpster is a gourmet buffet for an omnivore like a wild boar raising piglets.